Late in the evening of February 14 the Eugene City Council voted to refer to the electorate of Eugene a decision regarding whether or not to impose a local income tax to support public K-12 schools in the Bethel 52 and Eugene 4J districts.

As with any decision that an elected body makes, this decision isn’t universally popular.

In May, if you’re a registered to vote in Eugene, you will have a chance to vote on whether or not to ask the Eugene City Council to impose an unprecedented local income tax. Details will follow in a subsequent article.

The issue was precipitated to the Council with short notice and little time to effectively answer all the questions such a decision requires. A November ballot would have allowed more time to answer critical questions but would have limited the school districts’ ability to use the results in their budget processes.

Now it’s up to those in favor of or opposed to the tax to weigh in by voting in May.